Hello from San Diego:
I think the discussion confused two issues:
1) Laser pointer safety.
2) Use of a laser pointer to imitate a laser aimer.
The safety of ALL lasers, including pointers, is
controlled by the US Government, Federal Drug
Administration (FDA). The posted FDA warning against
pointer misuse addresses the eye-safety issue when
pointers are used as toys or other non-pointer use.
However, another misuse is emulating a laser aiming
device. This is interpreted as an aggressive action
requiring defensive action on the part of the person
being illuminated.
So, we are seeing promulgation of rules against
laser-illuminating airplanes, police, armed-forces
personnel, etc. Such rules are NOT in concern of
injury from the laser, but in concern that the laser
illumination is the first step towards firing a gun,
rocket, missle, etc., against the person.
(A number of years ago, the FDA published a proposed
change to the laser rules. It was really quite funny.
The rule change was to relax the interlock rules for
laser aiming devices. Under the existing rules,
activating an accessible high-power laser required two
switches and some other criteria. For an aiming device,
the rule was relaxed so no such criteria applied. The
proposal said something to the effect that it didn't
matter if you blinded the subject with the laser since
you intended to shoot him anyway.)
Best regards,
Rich
-------------------------------------------------------------
Richard Nute Product Safety Engineer
Hewlett-Packard Company Product Regulations Group
AiO Division Tel : +1 619 655 3329
16399 West Bernardo Drive FAX : +1 619 655 4979
San Diego, California 92127 e-mail: ri...@sdd.hp.com
-------------------------------------------------------------
---------
This message is coming from the emc-pstc discussion list.
To cancel your subscription, send mail to majord...@ieee.org
with the single line: "unsubscribe emc-pstc" (without the
quotes). For help, send mail to ed.pr...@cubic.com,
j...@gwmail.monarch.com, ri...@sdd.hp.com, or
roger.volgst...@compaq.com (the list administrators).
